Pirates Venture North To Face Marshall
February 10, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2012
 vs.  |
| East Carolina vs. Marshall Feb. 11, 2012 | 7 p.m. EST Huntington, W.Va. TV: WITN |
 Watch |  Live Stats |  Game Notes |  Tickets |  Gameday Central |
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THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAME
• The Pirates will look to post a victory over Marshall at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington for a second straight season. ECU defeated the Thundering Herd, 82-81 last season. The two split the season series a year ago with each team winning on the other's home court.
•ECU is 2-5 on the road this season, while Marshall is 10-3 at home.
•East Carolina is one of six teams shooting over 70-percent from the foul line in Conference USA play. However, it hasn't shot better than 64-percent at the charity stripe in any of the last three games, going a combined 29-of-47(.617).
•Marshall leads Conference USA in rebounding offense (40.9), while ECU ranks 12th in rebounding defense (35.0).
•The Pirates have out-rebounded each of their last three opponents, but still rank 11th in rebounding margin (-5.5) in league play. Marshall ranks fifth in the nation in rebounding margin (+9.0).
•Senior Darrius Morrow and junior Corvonn Gaines are on the verge of becoming the eighth and ninth players in school history to amass 100 steals in a career. Morrow needs a pair of steals to reach the century mark, while Gaines is three shy.
•Should be Pirates tally seven steals in the game, it would mark the eighth time in school history that they've recorded 200 steals in a season. ECU lead Conference USA with an average of 8.4 steals per game.
•East Carolina was held to less than 40 percent shooting Wednesday night for the first time in four games. The Pirates shot better than its opponent during each game of its three-game win streak before Memphis ended it and posted a better shooting percentage. ECU is 11-3 this season when shooting over 40 percent from the flied and 11-2 when shooting better than its opponent.
•The Pirates have had one player has grab double digit rebounds in five of the last eight games and four of the last six. Maurice Kemp has done it three times with Darrius Morrow and Robert Sampson recording the feat once each.
PIRATES TO WATCH
• Senior Darrius Morrow has scored double figures in 14 of the last 16 games, shooting 56.7 percent from the floor (88-of-155). Morrow is averaging 14.7 ppg in conference play.
•Junior Miguel Paul leads Conference USA in assists per game (5.6) and total assists (129). Paul ranks third in the league assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3). He needs four assists to move into sixth-place on the school's single-season chart.
•Junior Maurice Kemp has scored double figures in 12 of 14 games as a starter this season. He netted double digits in nine straight games before being limited to nine by Houston. Kemp didn't start versus Southern Miss, but returned to the starting against UAB and has scored double figures in three of the last four games.
•Junior Shamarr Bowden netted double figures for just the second time in league play with 10 points Wednesday night against Memphis. He ranks among the top five in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage and 3-point field goals made per game.
SERIES HISTORY
• Marshall leads the all-time series, 11-5.
LAST TIME WE MET
• Damier Pitts scored a career-high 28 points to help Marshall hold off East Carolina 78-65 on Saturday. Shaquille Johnson added 14 for the Thundering Herd, who earned a season series split with the Pirates, after they won the season's first meeting in Huntington, 82-81. ECU made its first shot of the night, a 3 from Jamar Abrams, and then missed its next nine as the Thundering Herd scored 12 unanswered. The Pirates battled back to get within four, 13-9, but that is as close as they got the remainder of the game. Marshall then went on a 14-4 run to push out to a 27-13 lead with 4:44 left in the first half, capped by a 3-pointer from Dago Pena. The Thundering Herd led by 13, 34-21, at intermission as Johnson sank a 3 just before the halftime buzzer. ECU scored the first basket of the second half only, just as it did to start the game, only to fall behind even further. Marshall held the Pirates scoreless for five minutes and outscored them 16-0 to take a 27-point lead, 50-23, with 13:53 remaining. That's when East Carolina staged a frantic rally to get within five with five minutes remaining. Brock Young, Erin Straughn and Corvonn Gaines made three consecutive 3-pointers to wipe eight points off the Marshall lead in 1:04. ECU forced nine turnovers in a five-minute span to cut the lead to seven, 55-48, with 7:27 to play on another 3 from Straughn. The Pirates outscored the Herd, 25-5, over a 6:26 stretch. Straughn's third 3 brought ECU within six before Young's runner in the lane cut it to five, 58-53, with 5:09 to play. However, that's when the rally came to end as Pitts broke the fullcourt press and hit a layup over Robert Sampson before Johnson hit a jumper with the shot clock winding down for a 62-53 lead with 4:05 left. The Pirates never got closer, with Pitts adding a late 3-pointer and hitting four straight free throws before fouling out with 1:39 left. Jontae Sherrod scored 19 points for East Carolina, while Young added 18 and Straughn finished with 10. The Pirates shot just 30 percent in the first half while Marshall shot 52 percent before halftime and 65 percent afterwards.
LAST YEAR IN HUNTINGTON
• Darrius Morrow completed a three-point play with 5 seconds left and East Carolina rallied to beat Marshall 82-81 Saturday night. The Pirates trailed by 15 points in the first half and by 12 at the intermission. Morrow scored nine points during a 15-4 run that allowed East Carolina to pull within one, at 54-53, with 13:11 to play. The Thundering Herd had no answer for Morrow, who made 11 of 17 shots from the field, except to send him to the free-throw line, where he was 11 of 21. Twenty-one of Morrow's points came in the second half. Trailing 81-79 with 9 seconds left, East Carolina's Jontae Sherrod missed a 3-point try, but Morrow grabbed the rebound, scored and was fouled with 5 seconds left. When the Herd sent Morrow to the line for the final time, he won the game. Tirrell Baines led Marshall with 21 points.
UP NEXT
• The Pirates will have a week off before returning to action on Saturday, Feb. 18 at UCF.
